8/29/11 Capitol Report

Posted Monday, August 29, 2011, at 9:33 AM

In the face of the economic challenges our state faces, getting our economy back on track and getting Missourians back to work must be our top priority in the legislature. We followed through on this promise by passing several key pieces of legislation that would help put you back to work, only to have them die. However, House leadership has worked diligently to ensure that we address this important issue in the special session on Sept. 6th.

Throughout this year's legislative session we worked in a bipartisan manner to craft a major job creation bill that would help give our economy the jump-start it so desperately needs. We set our sights high on a major package that would dramatically overhaul our state's job creation incentives, but unfortunately, on the final day, our efforts came up just short.

We did not let this setback stop our commitment to jobs, though. Throughout the summer months, a bipartisan group of legislators continued working to forge a compromise. In July, we were able to reach an agreement on a monumental jobs bill that will overhaul our state's job creation incentives and help attract 21st century employers to our state.

The compromise includes incentives to add high-tech jobs, expand job creation and job retention incentives, and open our state's products to international markets. This historic package will create various programs that will bring thousands of new jobs to Missouri in the fields of science and technology, innovation, construction, and administration.

It is estimated that these incentives will create tens of thousands of new Missouri jobs; jobs that are desperately needed right now. With an unemployment rate hovering around 9%, it is imperative that we do what we can to get Missouri's economy moving again.

In addition to these new, innovative incentives, we will also overhaul existing incentive programs. In all, we will eliminate seven programs, create periodic review of all remaining incentives, all while saving an estimated 1.5 billion dollars for our state over the next 15 years.

The combination of new incentive programs with a re-tooling of our current economic development programs represents the kind of bold action our state's economy needs. I look forward to the special session so we can finish the job you sent us to do.

As always, it is an honor to serve you in the Missouri House. If you would like to discuss any issue, please call 573-751-3629. You can also email me at Kent.Hampton@house.mo.gov. I look forward to hearing from you.